The Bitter District exhaled.
Just like an animal.
Nor like a machine.
And like something alive or something ancient that was awakening from a long, troubled slumber.
Felix felt the pulse first.
The hum beneath the sole of his shoe, and then the warm flush traveling up through his vertebrae, the sensation, almost, of fingertips tracing the nerves. The need to freeze, crouched on the bottom step of the spiral staircase.
He turned, and Nia almost bumped into his back.
"Felix? What's wrong"
He didn't respond.
Because the walls were glowing.
There were thin veins of molten red beneath the stone, pulsating softly, like another heart. There was the sweetness of caramel in the air, but beneath it, the sharpness of metal, the taste of cold fear.
"It's stronger than the last one," Aya whispered.
Tom swallowed hard, trying to be brave. "Great. Fantastic. Maybe it just missed us."
Felix, however, knew better.
The Bitter District didn't "miss" anyone.
It remembered them.
And it had especially remembered him.
They advanced together, except Felix, who led the way without noticing. His attention was fixed on the red glow advancing up the walls, as if the light was aware of him and wished to greet him.
"You hear it, don't you?"
Nia could hardly hear her speak.
"It's whispering again. And louder this time. like it's memorizing my voice," Felix nodded.
Aya shivered. 'Cities aren't supposed to learn voices.'"
"But this one does."
Felix put a hand against the throbbing wall.
"And it doesn't forget."
The rock warmed up under his touch.
The light intensified around his fingertips.
Nia grasped his shoulder. "Felix, don't "
A whisper breathed through the corridor like breath on glass:
"Return"
Felix's eyes widened.
"I knew it."
The voice was a whisper, and it was soft, incredibly soft, that Tomas wasn't even sure he had heard it. But Felix was positive, as though the whisper was speaking directly into his bones.
They went on through the narrow corridor.
The louder the pulse turned, the further they descended.
Nothing. Just a sensation. Almost a pressure.
Something pressing against the edges of their thoughts.
Aya clasped her head. "It's humming. In my head."
"Feels like the world's worst violin lesson," Tomas said stiffly.
But Felix whispered.
"No. It's a rhythm. A pattern. A memory."
He wasn't guessing.
He knew.
The red light surrounding them flashed in rhythm with the beat of his heart.
Nia gaped at him in horror.
"It's syncing with you."
Felix didn't contest this.
They came out into the cavern.
At the center, the molten fountain sat, a whirlpool of red-gold chocolate, constantly in motion, constantly alive. The hardened caramel sculptures twisted like screaming figures atop the rim.
Felix drew closer.
The glow from the fountain increased.
"Felix. Don't go any closer. The last time almost killed you," Aya said, grasping his arm.
Felix gazed deeply at the dynamic fluid.
"It wasn't trying to hurt me. It was trying to show me something."
"Show you what?" Tomas snapped.
"The truth," Felix whispered.
"What this city really is."
The air thickened.
The fountain fountain molten.
Just a few inches, then a ripple, a swell, and a narrow tendril shot out, reaching for Felix like a hand made of liquid fire.
Nia gasped
Aya drew back.
"Son of a—," Tomas muttered.
Felix didn't budge. The tendril waved in front of his chest, oscillating.
"It's waiting for me," he murmured. Aya lunged to grab him as The cave shook.
The red veins blazed. The shadows undulated on the walls, casting silhouettes— figures without faces, marching in slow, synchronized rhythms.
Whispers were gathering all around them, stacking like: "Remember Return. Uncover "
Nia's voice broke with fear. "Felix. What's happening to you?"
Felix breathed in slowly, and red light glowed in the depths of his eyes.
"The city," he said. "It wants me to remember what it has forgotten." The tendril touched his palm. And the world was reduced to light.